by Gary Randolph
One very warm September afternoon a year ago I was laying a row of stepping stones. For each of the stones involved, I had to:

1. Lay the stone on the ground where you want it.
2. Spade around the edges.
3. Pick up the stone and move it.
4. Dig a hole.
5. Drop the stone in place and check it.
6. Move stone out and either dig more or add dirt.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 multiple times until the stone is level and the right depth and doesn't rock.

So it involved a lot of repeated lifting of 40 lb stones. It was hot, exhausting work.

And I was happy to do it. I had been wanting to do it all summer and couldn't. Because that was the summer when I had broken a collarbone. A pothole had taken me down in May while I was riding my bicycle. I spent the next 8 weeks essentially one-armed. Unable to ride my bike. Unable to do anything that took two good arms.

So after I healed and I had two good arms that I could use to lay those stones, it was a great, empowering, almost joyful experience.

One of my favorite pieces written by GK Chesterton is an essay called "The Advantages of Having One Leg." He wrote it when he had sprained his ankle and was forced to stand on one leg instead of two.

Chesterton wrote, "The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost. In one of my feet I can feel how strong and splendid a foot is; in the other I can realize how very much otherwise it might have been."

I had Hodgkins Lymphoma four years ago. One of the (very few) advantages of having had cancer is that I sometimes realize all the experiences that I could have missed. That but for medical science and the grace of God I might be dead now. Playing with grand-kids, watching a sunset, sharing laughs with friends - so many things I might have missed.

So my advice this Thanksgiving is to stand on one leg for a minute, and appreciate having two. Close your eyes for a minute, and then open them to see the wonder around you.